ATHENS – Fishing is an age-old enterprise in Greece that technology can help advance, and The Hellenic Initiative (THI) is keeping Hellenes on the cutting edge through a new collaboration with Enaleia, supporting its innovative work with a grant of $20,000.
THI’s contribution enables Enaleia to enhance its training capabilities by digitizing its content, attracting more students, and matching them with jobs available in the fishing industry.
Enaleia is a social enterprise with a mission to make the marine ecosystem sustainable by working with fishermen. It has established the first school for professional fishing in Greece, training 63 new fishermen in the past two years. Currently, the training process is being digitized, in order to reduce the costs and to provide interactive digital courses and videos to more people interested in the fishing sector.
Enaleia has also trained over 130 professional fishermen on how to earn more money with less fish, through fishing tourism, and the branding of their product – giving them solid motivation to fish less.
Responding to the alarmingly increased amount of marine plastic in the Greek seas, Enaleia has also established a system with 10 fishing boats which are collecting 2,500 kilos of marine plastic per month with their nets, and facilitating the delivery of used fishing equipment at the end of the fishing season at two specific locations, Keratsini and Lavrio. Furthermore, Enaleia has been awarded by UN Environment as one of the 5 best initiatives in Europe for protecting or restoring the environment at the Young Champions of the Earth competition.
THI Executive Director Peter Poulos said, “THI’s support to Enaleia is very timely and will generate much needed employment opportunities. It will also stimulate the younger generation to take greater interest in the fishing sector, allowing current businesses to fill the jobs they are creating.”
Michael Printzos, THI’s Program Director, said, “The Greek economy still has a large number of promising sectors that can be boosted by our support, and which can contribute to creating jobs and developing the economy. Fishing is one of these sectors and Enaleia is among the first organizations which have tapped into it. It’s a great pleasure for us to help such an exemplary organization, which shows that Greek economy has unique potential that can develop by using its own powers, assisted by the Hellenic Diaspora.”
Enaleia General Director and Co-Founder Lefteris Arapakis said, “The Hellenic Initiative has been a critical partner in our efforts. Through their support and guidance, we were able to digitize our content, so as to reduce the cost of our e-learning program from 500 euros to 99 euros, enabling us to teach more people, make our initiative sustainable, and possibly creating more jobs in the marine sector. We are truly grateful for their support and collaboration.”
More information about The Hellenic Initiative is available online: TheHellenicInitiative.org and onegreece.org.
Follow THI on Facebook and Twitter: #OneGreece.
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